Grosjean: Sometimes we drive at only 30 percent

Lotus's Romain Grosjean says that the new driving techniques for 2014 are 'slightly frustrating' but insists that drivers will have to adapt.

Grosjean retired from the season opening Australian Grand Prix but says the feeling is less fun than previous years due to sometimes driving at only '30 percent'.

"It is not quite as pleasant as before to be honest," he said of driving a Grand Prix. "There is a lot of energy recovery to deal with and optimise. You cannot drive most of the Grand Prix at 90 per cent as before, sometimes now it is only 30 per cent.

"We just have to get used to it. When you win you love it and when you retire, you don’t. At the moment it feels a little frustrating as a driver but these are the rules, we will adapt and make the best of them."

Grosjean suffered a difficult weekend in Australia and admits that the weekend turned into an extended test session. The French racer remains confident that matters will improve at next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

"The race in Melbourne was basically a good, long test. It wasn’t easy for the guys but I’m happy we did a lot of laps in the race," he said. "We gathered some useful data and we will now improve using that data. The aim now is to have a straightforward weekend at Sepang, working through our proper schedule in free practice, then carrying the benefits from that over to qualifying and the race."